Movie Review – ‘Trainwreck’

July 29, 2015

Laugh in – For those a little late to the party, the time is now to catch a comedy in theaters. I know, usually that’s never the case, especially when something much bigger is playing down the hall. But, this year is different, as we have seen one comedy after another roll through and find success. That’s big and why you should just take my word for it and go see “Trainwreck,” the latest act on this year’s nonstop tour of laughs.

What’s it about? Whether people want to believe it or not, a good comedy usually requires a good story and here it actually is loosely based off Amy Schumer’s own life. That could be a good thing or bad thing depending on who you ask, but I think it’s great. It all starts with Amy, who along with her sister Kim (Brie Larson) was taught by their father (Colin Quinn) that monogamy wasn’t realistic. Twenty-something years later Amy is unmarried and regularly mixes it up at night with whomever she wants despite having a boyfriend Steven (John Cena). It’s hard to blame here, though given the kind of childhood she had leading her to all sorts of crazy decisions at work and at home. So when she was interviewing Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), a big time sports doctor for her magazine she wrote for, the last thing she expected was to fall in love. But, that’s what she did breaking her own cardinal rules of dating along the way. Only when things started to get serious, Amy didn’t know how to handle it pushing Aaron away until she realizes her mistake resulting in a hysterical conclusion full of love.

Who is in it? If you haven’t heard of Amy Schumer, don’t feel bad because she doesn’t care. And if you don’t believe me, just watch any of her stand-up specials or her TV show Inside Amy Schumer. You will quickly see that she is a tad bit off, but in a good way. That’s the brilliance with her, as she tends to go places with her comedy that very few women have gone and manages to get away with it. And as the writer and star of this film, you can see why. What a job and one that fans of TV’s Last Comic Standing can be proud to have helped discover. That was seven years ago and outside some TV spots, really hadn’t caught that break she needed until now. Call it timing or just pure luck, but Amy Schumer is hot right now which this film pretty much confirms. And what’s cool is how she didn’t go out and get some huge star s to help sell this film.

Sure, you have the likes of Tilda Swinton, Daniel Radcliffe and Marisa Tomei in it, but they didn’t help this movie be what it was. That was all Schumer and her costar Bill Hader, who I admit didn’t expect to be this good. A SNL alum, Hader showed some things that gave me hope for his future on the big screen. Same could be said for Brie Larson, who is one of those actresses to keep an eye on. She might not have been in this one a whole lot, but when she was, you noticed and that’s something that can’t be taught. Which speaking of being noticed, Lebron James actually did a good job playing himself in this role which believe it or not deserves mentioning. Where he takes that after his hall of fame basketball career, I don’t know, but at least for this film, it was fun watching him interact with the rest of the cast.

Matching wits – Calculated move or not, bringing on Judd Apatow as the director here was maybe the best decision Amy Schumer could have had. Yeah, we missed his savvy writing, but Schumer showed she was capable given how nice and tidy this script was overall. And comedies can be tough to write considering how you have to find that balance of humor for the audience. As I have said before, its rare three people have the same sense of humor, so for Schumer to bring something this funny and solid is quite the achievement. Maybe I am giving her too much credit, but for a quasi romantic comedy, this should wind up making a lot of money simply because people will be able to relate to it. That’s big and not commonly found in this genre, so kudos to Schumer and Apatow for getting it right in the most unlikely of methods.

Bottom Line – “Trainwreck” is not what it seems, but that’s on purpose. You see, sometimes you have the shake the landscape and that’s precisely what Amy Schumer is doing right now in the world of comedy. So go watch it and see for yourself why I think she might just be the next biggest thing in comedy, on and off screen.